Fragmented Work Careers?

“Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a f***ing big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. […] Choose your future. Choose life…”

― Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting (1993)

In recent debate concerning the transformation of work, concerns have been raised about technological unemployment and the need to re-educate the working population. When one follows the news, it is easy to get the impression that the idea of a job for life is a thing of the past and fragmented work careers have become the new normal. It is increasingly difficult to choose a decent job and career ― this is the message that mainstream media are conveying to us everywhere.

In a research project funded by the Finnish Work Environment Fund, we asked whether work careers in technology, chemical and forest industries are under risk of fragmentation. We used the Finnish Longitudinal Employer–Employee Data that is a large register-based dataset produced annually by Statistics Finland from 1988. The full version of the dataset contains all 15–70-year-olds permanently residing in Finland; that is, some 3.6 million persons annually. We tested the hypothesis that younger cohorts have endured more fragmented careers than older cohorts.

Our answer is that technological disruption does not necessarily mean the disruption of employment. When it comes to careers, employment remains surprisingly stable on average across different cohorts. However, the career discrepancies between women and men, and between workers at lower and higher levels of education are significant and persist across cohorts.

In terms of employment stability, careers remain relatively unchanged: findings both from our study and from previous studies show that the employment stability of the working population has remained almost unchanged. According to our results, unemployment and being out of the labour force are low among industrial workers across different age groups. In our follow-up of 14 industrial worker cohorts (1958–1971) between the ages of 30 and 44, nine out of ten workers had been continuously employed.

At the same time, more than one third had changed careers and well over two thirds had changed jobs during the time period examined. Overall, the employment stability of employed adults is stable, but mobility across industries and workplaces is high. Such flexible careers that combine stable employment with various career transitions are common in the Nordic labour market. This dynamic is also necessary for a well-functioning labour market because a lack of career mobility would also mean a lack of new job opportunities.

We also know from the Quality of Work Life Surveys conducted by Statistics Finland that there is nothing new about changing careers. The rate of career changers among employees is more or less the same as it was in the 1980s.

Despite our results show no evidence of career destabilization across the cohorts, they do reveal persistent inequalities between industrial employees with low and high levels of education, and between men and women. The careers of lower-educated individuals involve more transitions to unemployment and time out of the labour force, whereas people with higher education move more often from one job to another. Women’s employment and income levels are lower compared to men. Having children affects women’s careers both in terms of employment stability and income development, but for men such effects are limited.

Gender-based differences in career and income development and the reasons behind them are well understood. Finland has a highly segregated labour market, which means that there is a separation between typical women’s and men’s jobs. This is also true in industrial fields, where women comprise only about a fifth of employees. In addition to gender segregation and parental leaves, the disparity in income is explained by the fact that men work longer hours and are in higher positions within the professional hierarchy.

There are several ways to promote equality and equal pay. Good practices include:

• systematic evaluation of and criteria for equality and job complexity
• the evaluation of gendered effects upon drafting collective agreements
• pay reviews and pay transparency as well as staff representatives’ right to payroll information
• the legally mandated equalization of the gender distribution within the top management of organizations

Furthermore, increasing fathers’ use of family leave would strengthen women’s position in the labour market, which is why overhauling family leave policies is important. One reason for the discrimination that women face in recruitment and in their careers may lie in the cost of family leave to employers.

References

J?rvinen, Katri-Maria & Py?ri?, Pasi & Ojala, Satu & Lipi?inen, Liudmila & Saari, Tiina (2020) Ty?urien vakaus ja taantuma: yksityisen sektorin ty?ntekij?iden ty?urapolut 2007–2015. [Career stability and recession: Private-sector employees’ career trajectories, 2007–2015]. Ty?el?m?n tutkimus 18(2): 81–99.

Ojala, Satu & Py?ri?, Pasi (Eds) (2020) Pirstoutuvatko ty?urat? Teollisuusalat talouden ja teknologian murroksissa. [Fragmented Work Careers? Industries in Economic and Technological Change]. Tampere University Press.

Ojala, Satu & Py?ri?, Pasi & Riekhoff, Aart-Jan (2020) Career Stability in 14 Finnish Industrial Employee Cohorts in 1988–2015. Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies. Online first.

Riekhoff, Aart-Jan & Ojala, Satu & Py?ri?, Pasi (2021) Career Stability in Turbulent Times: A Cross-cohort Study of Mid-careers in Finland. Acta Sociologica. Online first.

Sutela, Hanna & P?rn?nen, Anna & Keyril?inen, Marianne (2019) Digiajan ty?el?m? – Ty?olotutkimuksen tuloksia 1977–2018. [Working Life in the Digital Age – Results of the Quality of Work Life Surveys 1977 to 2018]. Statistics Finland.